Tuesday, May 23, 2017

Mr. Dave Goes to Washington

It’s been almost 25 years since an amiable fable called Dave appeared on the nation’s movie
screens. Dave, which stars Kevin
Kline and Sigourney Weaver, takes a basically light-hearted look at the U.S.
presidency. It’s a Capraesque take on the notion that a man of the people is a
vast improvement over most career politicians. What’s striking in 2017 is how much
the film resonates with the facts of the administration in today’s Washington.
At a time when the rumblings about impeachable offenses are growing
louder,it’s very pleasant to see a
movie in which skullduggery gets punished and American ideals prevail.

In Dave, the
protean Kevin Kline gets the opportunity to play two roles. The first is that
of President Mitchell, a man capable of delivering idealistic speeches that
delight his supporters. Mitchell, who looks a great deal like the first
President Bush, may have a presidential air, but he’s at base a cold-hearted
skunk who’s too busy canoodling with his secretary (Laura Linney) to want to
show up at ceremonial events. That’s why the lookalike Dave Kovic, a gentle everyman
who runs a temp agency, is recruited to stand in for him at smile-and-wave
events. Things take an unlikely turn when President Mitchell suffers a massive
stroke in flagrante delicto. The conniving chief of staff played by the
wonderfully sinister Frank Langella sees this as a prime opportunity to install
Dave permanently in the White House. The idea is that Dave, playing the role of
the president, will serve as a convenient puppet, with Langella’s character
pulling the strings.

Needless to say, the worm turns. It’s not long before Dave
discovers that he has a mind of his own, and that he’s in a position to use his
new-found power for the good of the common man. In entertaining kids at a local
homeless shelter and then throwing his support toward an expensive but
idealistic jobs bill, he wins widespread public approval, as well as the
affection of a First Lady (Sigourney Weaver) who has long been disgusted by her
philandering spouse. Of course Dave’s time in the sun cannot last. Langella is
up to no good, and there are some excellent plot twists and turns before order
is restored and happy days are here again.

Most real-life Washington DC power brokers obviously enjoyed
the concept of Dave, because many of
them appear on camera. Such 1990s politicians as Senators Tip O’Neill, Paul
Simon, Howard Metzenbaum, and Alan Simpson are interviewed about the doings of
the fictitious President Mitchell by real-life journalists like Robert Novak,
Sander Vanocur, and NPR’s Nina Totenberg. The late Helen Thomas asks sharp
questions at a presidential press conference. Jay Leno tells political jokes,
and Larry King provides acerbic commentary. The real power structure, in other
words, supports the fantasy.

That was then; this is now. What struck me about Dave is its conviction that a man with
no political experience is better equipped than many political regulars to make
important decisions. We’ve just been through an election in which voters chose
as the nation’s leader a political novice who relies on his gut instincts
rather than a well-formulated sense of policy. Of course, through much of Dave, the novice is putty in the hands
of a behind-the-scenes manipulator bent on subverting the system for his own
gain. Though Dave ultimately wises up, he knows better than to think he has all
the tools he needs to run a nation. Though the film ends on a predictably
upbeat note, the system stays intact. In our own world, let’s hope that remains
so.

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About Me

As someone who has always been passionate about language, I prefer good conversation to, well, just about anything. And for me chatting about movies is a special treat. I’m convinced that movies can shape lives. On this topic I’ve got some great stories to tell, and I invite YOU to share your own. But because I’m a show biz survivor, I will also sometimes pull back the curtain to show you the inner workings of the film industry. Read, and enjoy!